David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy is an important member of the Israel lobby. He wrote a book on the "peace process" lately with the Holy Avatar of the lobby, Dennis Ross. The avatar has lately been given enhanced powers in the Obama Administration for the simple undeniable reason that in order to do anything in Israel/Palestine, Obama must truck with the Israel lobby, not defy it. Foreign Policy:
The other group said to be concerned by Ross's perceived takeover of
Middle East turf is the team of Middle East Peace special envoy George Mitchell,
which now has to contend not only with resistance from all quarters of
the region, but also a rival power center in the NSC that hasn't tended
to see Middle East peace issues the same way.
What does Ross believe? Well, his co-author Makovsky (with the benediction of the Second Avatar of the lobby in the Congress, Howard Berman) seems to be endorsing the Avigdor Lieberman plan: give the Palestinians a state with a lot of land with Palestinians on it inside what is now Israel. Makovsky:
The settlement issue, on the other hand, can be addressed now. Settlers
should no longer remain in limbo; a demarcated border would place an
estimated 75-80 percent of the settlers inside Israel. In exchange, the
Palestinians would receive land swaps inside Israel equivalent to all
of the West Bank. Successful land negotiations would prove that
diplomacy — and not terror — is the key to making progress and
achieving results. Solving the land issue will not solve the remaining
contentious issues, but taking a pragmatic approach will demonstrate
progress, and a clear plan can then be devised for addressing the
remaining issues.
Makovsky may well mean the Lieberman idea of giving the Palestinians portions of the Galilee west to Umm al Fahm, for parts of the West Bank, thereby
disenfranchising those Palestinian Israeli citizens from their Israeli
citizenship (which may be preferable to them to living under the
Palestinian Authority). A further gerrymandering of the state to preserve a Jewish majority. Will it work? Will Obama endorse? You are talking about power politics.
Will it be fair? Will it last?
It never ceases to amaze the way these Zionists will lawyer (or should I say “shyster”) any agreement in a way that will completely destroy the principles and spirit of the contract to their advantage. “Everyone agrees on a two-state solution? Fine. We’ll give the Palestinians a zone, a pen really, of worthless land inside Israel and control all access, resources, security and economic activity in and out. We’ll force all Palestinian Israelis to live there. We’ll call it a state, and make it so miserable that most will eventually want to leave for Arab lands. Meanwhile, we’ll take the entire West Bank for ourselves. There. Two state solution accomplished.”
So there'd be a state divided into three separate enclaves (or more) with no access between them except under Israeli permission? Thus ruled over on land, sea, and air by Israel? With Israel controlling the water too? How many states like that are in the world today?
Anybody got an actual map of this plan? It sounds like they are talking about adding the land in Israel to the parts of the West Bank that now contain the Palestinians and 20-25% of the settlers. Forming a contiguous area. As for making the West Bank and Gaza contiguous, that would make Israel discontinuous (or require a strip several hundred miles long around the border of Israel).
As for will it work? It worked to a certain extent in India and Pakistan. It also worked to a certain extent in the former Yugoslavia. Land splits and population displacement aren't pretty, but when you have one group (the Palestinians) wanting to exterminate another group (the Jews) having them both in the same country is worse.
Or they could get out of the land that they stole in 1967 and Israel would remain "contiguous."
Do you believe that if you keep repeating this mindless dribble it will become true? As your moral ancestor Mr. Goebbels once said, a great lie repeated endlessly will be believed. Fact: Zionists murdered more than 300 Palestinian children this year. Fact: Zionists are using food as a weapon against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Fact: Zionists claim "natural growth" as a right, yet destroy Palestinian homes in Jerusalem when Palestinians try to expand them–and are denied building permits. You are so drenched in your filthy ideology that you sound barely human. Goose step away, Heinrich, goose step away!
The Ross plan for land exchange calls for handing over regions in the Negev to the Palestinians, not the (nearly all) Palestinian areas around Umm El Fahm. This is not the Lieberman plan! This land exchange plan is part of all left wing Zionist peace plans. I'm a bit disappointed that you so callously place Ross and Lieberman together in your text based on pure speculation. It's not a fair way of debating the issue of land exchange (which I do not support, personally).
Stole is not accurate. Captured in a war that the Arabs started. Why do you Palestinian supporters always seem to think that it is just fine for the Arabs to start a war with the stated intent to exterminate the Jews and take their land, then say "just kidding, so give our land back" when they lose? Sorry, but starting a war is a gamble. When you lose, you don't get your stakes back for free.
Fact: nope. 89 children dead among the civilians killed, not 300, and they were killed in the crossfire of battle, not murdered. Are they hitting them with stale French Bread? Someone threw a bagel at me once, does that count? If you mean the blockade: Fact: Israel sends food in. If the Palestinians don't think the quality and quantity is adequate, they will be free to import whatever they want, once they release Gilad Shalit and stop their war on Israel. The Palestinians want to be able to war on Israel but not bear the consequences (like the blockade). Their elected government is the one making war. If they don't like the consequences, they should elect a government that will surrender instead of futilely attacking Israel. Fact: Jerusalem is part of Israel. The Israelis have the right to make land use decisions as they choose.